Vatican

The Vatican on Friday (Nov. 15) downplayed reported mob threats against Pope Francis, just two days after a high-profile anti-mafia prosecutor said Francis could be a target from the ‘Ndrangheta mafia organization in southern Italy.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, told reporters on Friday (Nov. 15) that the Vatican was “extremely calm” regarding a possible mob threat against the pope.

“There is absolutely no reason for concern, no need to feed alarmism,” Lombardi said.

Mentoring inner-city youths is hardly the most obvious way to prepare for working at the Vatican, but Fr. Geno Sylva says the lessons he learned in a low-income New Jersey community have served him abundantly well in his current job as an official at the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

Ordained in 1993, the New Jersey native has long had a passion for spreading the Gospel. He worked as a teacher, chaplain and president at DePaul Catholic High School in the diocese of Paterson, as well as a mentor at Young Prophets, a program for inner-city teenagers there.